


Hold Me In Your Arms

by levitategravity



Category: Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, F/M, Fluff, Triggers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 16:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5831806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/levitategravity/pseuds/levitategravity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In simplest terms, fight or flight is a basic reflex for humans. Tris had too much to run from in the small town of Clarion, Iowa. So to escape her past she runs to ClearWater High, a prestigious boarding school in the middle of Chicago. She expects a new life with new friends and new enemies. She continues to cover her past until she meets someone who has as much to hide as her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold Me In Your Arms

 

It seemed pretty unnecessary to move at first, but when Tris got to the city she was in awe of the large buildings, the buzz that seemed to flow through the streets, and she realized that she needed to get out of that farm town a long time ago. Chicago was large, much larger than Clarion, Iowa, where she lived since birth. The small roads and minuscule population was no competition to Chicago.

She spent the ride staring out the window at the scenery or sleeping (she got up at four okay?). The flight from Clarion to O'hare airport was 2 hours so she got up early, grabbed the small bag of necessities that she pack and said goodbye to her family. Considering it was the early morning, none of them actually wanted to drive her to the nearest airport so she got a taxi and waved goodbye to her home.

The airport was a ghost town, a couple people here and there, but seriously, no one wanted to go to Clarion for vacation. On the 2 hour flight, she slept next to a woman who kept nudging Tris's elbows and crinkling her bag of chips. So when the flight landed, Tris didn't feel the slightest bit bad about shoving past the woman and getting out of that fucking metal death trap.

Tris immediately found a yellow taxi cab which was stolen by some dude in a fancy looking suit, but that didn't stop her from spewing "fuck you, you prick!" at the cab as it sped off. Her first days in Chicago weren't going as well as she hoped, but it wasn't that disappointing compared to the majority of her life.

When she got to the campus at 8, there were students swarming the large school. The campus, like the rest of Chicago, was vast. It was very elegant with a light blue and white color scheme. The entrance had a black steel gate that opened out into the green courtyard.

Tris pressed her lips together and continued walking onto the pavement of the long entryway. She pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and stared at the ground in a futile attempt to be unseen. She was almost to the gate when someone decided to slam their shoulder into hers.

"Hey! Watch it jackass!" She yelled, turning around to glare at the asshole.

"Try looking up, bitch!" The boy shouted back at her. He continued to stare at his phone, not paying any attention to his surroundings. He was, at least, a foot taller than she was, which pissed her off even more. Tris continued to glare at his navy blue beanie, making sure to shout "Douchebag!" in his direction (which didn't help the whole "unseen" thing she was doing) before walking up the stairs.

The courtyard was much large than she perceived. Picnic tables littered the grassy area along with a large fountain in the middle. Cement pathways led from the fountain into each of the buildings surrounding it. Tris maneuvered her way through the crowd and managed to find a tour guide that was unoccupied. Well, Tris assumed the girl was a tour guide from the light blue shirt, dark wash jeans and the small name tag that read "hello! My name is Marlene!".

"Um excuse me?"

The tour-guide, Marlene, turned around and stared at her with big eyes. She was pretty, sleek blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and tall. Tris internally rolled her eyes, she was just like the rest of these frickin people.

She smiled brightly, "What can I do for you?" Her voice was pretty and delicate. Tris could easily imagine that she was a singer.

"Yes, um" Tris searched for her name tag again. "Marlene. I would like to find..." Tris ended up shuffling through her bag (because she's an unprepared fuck) for the package of information the school sent to her house last week. "I would like to find my dorm room? It's 186?"

Marlene smiled, revealing perfect, white, straight teeth. Everything about her screamed "basic" so Tris put on a fake smile and pretended to be a lot more social (and interested) that she actually was. "Okay, do you want the tour as well?"

Tris just shrugged, feeling tired. "Sure. Why the fuck not?"

Marlene's smile never faltered as she led her away from the mass of people and into one of the many buildings. The room itself was immense, the high ceilings and bright walls bounced off the sleek black tables that were spread across the room. It was the nicest cafeteria Tris had ever seen, but Marlene didn't seem to think too much of it as she continued walking. They marched out of the cafeteria and through the rows of pale gray lockers that looked strangely normal compared to everything else in the school. Still pretty impressive, though.

It wasn't until they came to a stop when Marlene finally spoke. "So because your room number is 186, you're going to be in Hallway B because that's the dorm building you're in. We have about 600 boarding students and 300 day students. The boarding students are the first three floors, hall A and B and C. And the day students use the fourth floor, hall D." She explained, leading Tris up the stairs to the second floor. She experimentally peered up only to find layers and layers of the same white stairs and she sighed.

"So, um. How far up does this thing go?" Tris asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Uh. First three floors are lockers, and lounges," Tris nodded politely, partly distracted by the random art pieces that littered the walls of the stairs. "We do things a little differently here, each floor is a different subject. For example the fifth floor is all modern languages, the sixth floor is the teacher's lounge, the seventh floor is science, and so on. We have an information packet with your stuff if you get confused."

"Sounds good," Tris said, even though she only caught parts of it. She continued to admire the random drawings which were actually pretty good. "How's the art program?"

"Well," She started to drag her fingertips along the rows of lockers. "We've got 12 different art classes ranging from 2-D art, 3-D art, art history, and digital art." She stopped walking once we reached locker the #300s lockers. "This is where most people from your dorm will be," She gestured around at the hall. "And this is your locker," She said, tapping the locker 372. "So just multiply your room number by 2 and you got your locker number. And this one right here," She started to tap her pale pink finger nail on locker 371, which was covered in black paint with the words "BLURRY FACE" and a bunch of random scribbles written with a metallic marker. "This is your room mate. You see, this could've been your's but I assumed that you didn't have the chance to mark your's yet."

"Mark?"

"Just decorate it basically." Marlene nodded and smirked at the drawings. She obviously knew who Tris's roommate was. "So you might want to actually open your locker, the code is on one of the letters that they gave you."

Tris sighed exasperated at the fact that she would have to rummage through everything. She shoved her hand into her bag, grabbing any random paper she found. Eventually, she found her code, it was a little crumpled and torn but still readable.

Tris fiddled with the lock, reading the code before twisting the dial a couple times (many times). She popped open the locker to find, notebooks, textbooks, folders, pencils, pens, and an expensive looking calculator. "I need all of this?"

"Mhmm," Marlene confirmed, then continued to walk towards the stairs.

"So do they ever think about getting an elevator or something?" Tris asked once we passed the teacher/student lounge, annoyed with the numbing feeling in her legs.

"Well, here at ClearWater High, we believe in maximizing our bodies, our minds, and our soul," She replied, sarcasm oozing out of every word. Tris smiled a bit, glad that this girl wasn't as basic as she seemed. "But we do have an elevator for faculty that is only assessable if you have a key card. And if you're lucky, sometimes teachers lend it to you to get stuff from their rooms." She smirked, pulling a bright blue card out of her back pocket. A smile broke out on her face and her smirk turned into a loud laugh. "C'mon, I'll let you take it down." Her demeanor was very unpredictable with an appearance of sass once and a while, and Tris could get onboard with that. She was beginning to feel bad that she judged the Marlene too soon.

"So, over we have bathrooms and vending machines on each floor as well as an infirmary in the fitness centers and the bottom floor. The office is on the bottom floor as well if you need to talk to the principle or something." The Marlene gestured around at random rooms and objects before turning around to face Tris. "So any questions?"

"Yeah. Where's the elevator?"

Marlene broke out into a smile. "Right this way."

Tris was relieved that the elevator was quick. Less room for awkward silence which would've been which she desperately tried to avoid.

Marlene smiled at her again when the doors opened, grabbing onto the strap of Tris's bag and pulling her forward at a fast pace. Probably because Tris would've drowned in the sea of people so she didn't complain. "Any questions?"

"So that's just the building for school?"

Marlene continued walking at a fast pace until they reached the courtyard. "Yes, it's our largest building out of all of them except for our second fitness center, but that has the football field and a pool so that's understandable." She sat down on the edge of the water fountain and stared at Tris with a blank face. "You wanna see the fitness center?"

Tris adjusted her messenger bag on her shoulder. "Sure."

She could tell the building was significantly smaller than the school section. It was, at least, three levels shorter and had 1/3 of the area missing. The doors opened automatically as they walked into the air conditioned room. Marlene strode past the lady at the front desk, waving a polite 'hello'. She continued to walk until they reached the elevators, stepping inside and motioning at Tris to follow.

Marlene clasped her hands together and turned around to face Tris, who was still looking around in an attempt to familiarize herself with the new surroundings. "First level is reception if you want to book any classes or any spa appointments." She smiled and wiggled her eyebrows.

"Classes are not my thing."

"Damn it. Okay, I'm stuck with Christina." She mumbled, pressing the 'two' button in the elevator. "So do you want to go inside and check each floor out?"

"Depends on what's on each floor."

"Second level is a yoga studio. Third is our classes, which is like kickboxing, cross-fit, etc." The heavy silver doors opened up and she walked out towards one of the rooms. "Fourth is our main gym area. And the fifth is our spa. Which I personally love, they have amazing mud masks."

"Good to know, I don't mind massages."

"Mhhhmm," The yoga studio was smaller than she expected, the room was filled with shelves that had blocks and colorful yoga mats. As well as some essential oils and other products. Tucked neatly in the corner was a small desk. And there were about four or five doors that filled up the remainder of the room. "So you sign up for yoga sessions here or in the lobby, and we have four different types of yoga you can sign up for; hot yoga, kundalini yoga, restorative yoga and hybrid yoga."

"You do yoga?"

"Only when I'm stressed. Which is all the time," She sighed, pressing her thumb into her palm. "Next floor?"

"Uhh, just take me up to the fitness center and I can look at the rest some other time."

She smiled and pressed the button. "Sure thing. So our fitness center is part of two, the second one is all the way across the school, it has volleyball courts, tennis courts, basketball courts, football field and track, and a pool with a diving section. As well as a locker room." She babbled, trying to fill the empty space which Tris was glad for.

The doors dinged open and she stepped out into the bright room. Tris stepped out of the elevator in awe, she strode past Marlene to one of the many many windows. They looked out into the campus and the view made Tris sigh. Screw yoga, this relaxed her. She finally turned around to take in the rest of her surroundings. A section of weights was tucked against a wall and different machines were lined up in neat rows. The florescent lights shined off the silver equipment and the fans were off.

Marlene stepped up next to her, looking back out at the view. "It overlooks the gardens and if you look really far you can see the football field." She murmured and Tris just nodded.

Tris finally glanced around at all the people in the fitness center and realized the increase of heat. The center wasn't that full but had enough bodies to bring up the temperature to the point where she regretted wearing an oversized hoodie over her bra instead of putting on an actual shirt. One of the boys that were bench pressing glanced up at them smiled and then proceeded to walk over. Tris kept glancing around, wondering who the hell he was walking to. She soon realized that he was just looking at Marlene, who was giving him the same dopey smile.

When he reached them he brought her into a hug, she didn't seem to mind that he was sweaty and smelly. And then they kissed and Tris shifted around uncomfortably, she was sick of PDA already.

Marlene pulled away and blushed but still remained in his embrace.

"Right sorry," Marlene said, her voice hoarse. "This is Uriah, my boyfriend-"

"Figured that out." Tris murmured sarcastically.

Uriah laughed. It was loud and energetic and Tris automatically knew this guy was gonna be okay. He was tall and leaner than buff, he had tan skin that shined with sweat and he was wearing a dark gray cutoff tank top. But what really caught Tris was his smile, it was bright and easy, holding no secrets or lies. He had a demeanor that sorta drew people in and Tris realized that right away.

"Well, Uriah this is, uh…" Her voice trailed off. "Wow, I don't even know your name."

"Tris."

"Tris..." She repeated. "Pretty. I'm Marlene." She smiled again and turned back to Uriah. "I'm going to go show Tris to her room, come by later?"

Uriah nodded and kissed her again, pulling her into his sweaty embrace. They were one of those couples.

"Okay great!" She said with a cheerful attitude. "Now go burn some calories."

"I can think of something else we can do that burns calories." Uriah replied and winked.

"Uh huh." Marlene retorted. "If you're lucky." She tapped his ass and walked back to Tris, where she stood, watching uncomfortably. She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly and she felt her cheeks warm up. Her jacket was heating up and she just wanted to get out of the room.

"Can we go now?" Tris asked in what she hoped was a firm voice.

"Sure thing." Marlene replied just as cheerful as before, wrapping an arm around Tris's. And surprisingly she didn't really mind. "I know it's tough going to a new school, and I can see that you're very uncomfortable with some stuff. But you can always talk to me, okay?" She led Tris back to the elevator and down to the courtyard.

"Thank you." Tris said after arriving in the courtyard and she actually meant it. A small smile graced her face and Marlene just laughed and walked towards the fountain.

"You're different. I like that, we're gonna be great friends. "

"Okay, Marlene," Tris started, smiling at her kindness. Oh yeah, she felt real bad for judging her. "So um, where are the dorms?" She tried to glance around for the building they didn't visit but they all sort of blended together to form one big blob of horny high schoolers.

"Well, when you first walk in here you see the fountain, to the left of that is the fitness center and gardens, to the right is the school building and straight ahead is the main dorms. There are 3 main buildings, Dorm A, on the left, is all boys. Dorm B, in the middle, is co-ed. And Dorm C is all girls. There are 10 floors in each dorm and 10 rooms on each floor, so that means that there are 200 kids in each dorm. Okay?"

Tris nodded, trying to keep up.

"So that means we have 600 lockers for all of our boarding students, granted not all of them are in use, but we still have them. So Dorm A has lockers 1-200, B has 201-400, and C has 401-600. And you remember what I said about the division thing right?"

Tris nodded again.

"Okay, so the dorm buildings have more than one entrance and exit, so finding your way to the fitness center and stuff should be easy." She pointed from each of the buildings in an attempt to verify the special shortcuts as they started walking towards the B dorm. "There are 10 rooms on each floor," She said, weaving her way around the herd of students that were unpacking. "And because you're in the B dorm you start at room 100. So the first floor is rooms 101-110, the second floor is 111-120, and so on. So you're on level nine because 181-190. Does that make sense?"

"Got it." Tris confirmed, narrowly dodging a shampoo bottle that some dude was using as a football. There weren't many people in the elevators, around three at most, but they were talking extremely loud. And Tris was getting irritated so naturally she slammed her shoulder against that one guy who was getting too close into her personal space. Marlene noticed, pressing her hand onto Tris's arm and pulling her out when the doors opened.

"You've got a temper," She mentioned after they started walking.

"Yeah I know," Tris mumbled, shrugging her arm off.

"Do you have a boyfriend by any chance? Because I know the perfect guy for you, like 6"4', very attractive, moody-"

"Not interested, sorry," Tris said quickly, shutting down the idea before any planning could take place.

Marlene just shrugged, stopping at one of the doors. "So in your packet, there are a few things that will help you get started. You will get a new schedule of activities or events each week to keep you up to date. I believe you have a key card and a student ID already, as well as a student credit card. That's for almost anything in our facilities and the shops on the other side of campus-"

"There's fricking shops here?" Tris asked astound by the possibility of not taking the bus every time she wanted to get something to eat.

Marlene smiled, her eyes lighting up at the thought of another shopping buddy. "Yes, I believe they have Adidas, Under Armor, PacSun, Aeropostale, Victoria Secret as well as other drug stores. And oh my god the food is great, some pizza, Chinese takeout, it's a nice change from the school crap. I'm sure there's much than just that, those are just off the top of my head." She pulled a pen out of her back pocket and grabbed the packet from Tris's hands. She started scribbling numbers onto it and Tris realized that it was her number. "Call me if you want to hang out. I'm in room 145 if you ever want to talk." She smiled for the billionth time that day. "So tonight is just for settling in. Orientation is tomorrow then school the next day." She sounded genuinely happy, and Tris found herself smiling despite the fact that it was school. "Well, see you soon Tris."

"You too Marlene." She disappeared down the hall, waving goodbye. She wasn't too bad. And she definitely wasn't that girly, which Tris could appreciate. She didn't have many girlfriends.

Tris mentally prepared herself before sliding her key card in and entering the room. But what she saw, no amount of mental preparation could have helped her, or anyone for that matter.

First of all, she saw a girl. Which was a bit confusing because it was a co-ed room, but then she noticed the mystery girl's clothes or lack thereof. Luckily there was a large blanket covering her lower half, unluckily there was something moving underneath that blanket. Most likely a boy.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Tris felt her voice go up a couple octaves as she averted her eyes.

The girl quickly pulled the blankets up to cover her chest and her face matched Tris's expression quite well.

"Um, hi?" She blushed profusely. Not a moment later, another person popped their head out from underneath the covers. And surprise, it was a boy.

"Hey, roomie." The boy said, flashing Tris a smile. "Wassup, I'm Zeke and this is Shauna." He kissed her cheek as she hid, then held his hand out for Tris to shake. He obviously had no shame.

Tris just stared at it in disgust. "Do you think I want to touch your hands right now?"

He stared at his hand for a second, realization coming to his face. Zeke hid his hand back underneath the blanket and had the decency to give her a sheepish face. "Good point. My bad."

"Uhh, we can catch up later. I'm sure you're busy, so just point me to my room and I'm going to unpack. Hopefully, you will be done by then," She sighed, making her way to the other side of the room and turning her red face out of their sight.

"Please wash that blanket and get rid of that couch. Okay?"

"Roger that, your room is to the right. But before you go, what's your name?"

"Tris," She mumbled, keeping her head low.

"Okay, remember sock on the door if you got any boys over."

"Because you're so strict with that." Tris pointed out and he shrugged, cracking a grin. "So I'm uh, gonna go." She continued to awkwardly shuffle out of the room and towards her door.

"Nice meeting you!" Shauna shouted.

"I saw your boobs!" Tris shouted back, closing the door, praying that the walls were thick.

* * *

The room was absolutely huge, for a dorm. This school definitely had the funds to splurge on basically everything. The pale gray walls reflected off shadows from the fairy lights that were hanging from them. There was a large, empty, mahogany bookshelf in the corner and a stainless white dresser right next to it. A long mirror was embedded in the wall, but you could slide it to the side to reveal a small closet.

Another white door stood next to it, leading into the bathroom, which was just as impressive as the room. A long counter space with 4 lights spread along the wall. The tub was long and circular, a shower was tucked away in the corner with glass walls. And a toilet was isolated in a closet-like space. The ground was tile which was different from the hardwood floors in her room.

Tris smiled like it was Christmas and grabbed her bag, emptying it onto the white comforter (which probably would be covered in food stains by the end of the week). A jumble of papers, credit cards and clothes scattered out on the sheets. She started to organize the papers from the rest of the pile, setting them off onto the desk. She had her schedule, a guidelines book, an outline for the week, and a map of the school. She glanced at the outline for the week, casting the rest of the papers to the side.

Sunday August 9th: Orientation 8:30am - 10:30am

Monday, August 10th: First day of classes

Friday, August 14th: Back to School Party- room 145 10:00 pm

Okay simple enough.

Tris stashed any remaining papers in a drawer of the desk. She folded up the small amount of clothes she had and shut them away in the dresser and slipped her credit cards into her back pocket along with her silver phone, she could buy a wallet anytime she wanted.

"Knock, knock." A voice said through the door. Shauna peaked her head through and Tris was relieved to see she was wearing clothes. "Can I come in?"

Tris shrugged. "Sure."

She looked around the room for a second before sitting down on the bed. "Look, I'm sorry about that. He told me you weren't going to be here until later."

"It's fine. It wasn't really your fault."

"Let me make it up to you. I saw you didn't bring much," She gestured to Tris's messenger bag which lay abandoned on her desk. "So maybe I could take you out shopping?"

Tris started to protest, "I'm not really much of a shop-"

"No, really. I have friends who work there, I can get you really good deals." She pointed out. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

Tris sighed, giving in. "Okay fine," Tris glanced at the clock which read 10:30. "But you're buying food." Shauna clapped her hands together and pulled Tris into a tight hug. "Oh okay, we're hugging." Tris awkwardly put her arms around her as Shauna pulled tighter. This Shauna girl was really assertive and sort of intimidated Tris a little. She was a least 1/2 a foot taller than her and seemed like the type of person you wouldn't want to mess with. But she was her roommates girlfriend so it seemed better to get along with her if she was going to be hanging out around here.

She pulled Tris out of her embrace, her hands on her shoulders as she said. "Okay, first we have to see what you've got." Shauna sauntered over towards Tris's dresser, pulling out the drawers and staring at the contents. "Tris, this is just sad. Three sports bras, eight shirts, four pairs of jeans and spandex?" Tris, on the other hand, was perfectly content with what she had, and most of her old clothes didn't fit her anyway.

She just shrugged. "I don't need much."

"Yeah okay." Shauna scoffed then tied her hair up into a ponytail. "We're going to need at least three hours." She grabbed Tris's hand, dragging her out of the room as she groaned.

Apparently Shauna knew all the shortcuts to the school. And by shortcuts Tris meant that she got on top of the banister and slid down nine levels, laughing the whole way. She must've been doing this for a long time because no stared or scolded her, the hoard of students just continued walking on like this was perfectly normal. Tris just walked down the stairs like an actual normal person. Mainly because if she tried to do that she would most likely fall and break her neck.

Tris met her down at the bottom, where she was waiting patiently. "Do you always do that?"

"Always. Faster than the stairs." She hooked her arm with Tris's, dragging her towards the entrance. Her dirty blonde hair bounced as she walked, taking long strides that Tris had trouble keeping up with. She never really understood the concept of hooking arms or holding hands, it seemed pointless. But she was kind of glad that Shauna was holding onto her, without it, she probably would've fallen and given herself a concussion.

Shauna knew her way around the school, pointing at the various buildings and what to avoid when to avoid it. She led Tris towards the gardens, another shortcut she picked up on, and pointed towards the track and football field. "So avoid walking past the boys locker rooms at 5 pm. That's when most sports end so if you want to keep your appetite, don't go there."

"Oh and let's not forget." She pointed towards the large swimming pool. You could barely see it from the garden, just a long strip of blue and the top of the lifeguard tower. "11 am on Saturdays some of the students teach toddlers how to swim and if you wanna be a chaperone or a lifeguard for extra cash then talk to them."She babbled on about the shopping area, the cafeteria, and the study lounge until they arrived at the end of the gardens. Tris barely got a word in which she was perfectly fine with., There were stairs that led down towards the entrance of the shops, and a little to the left they could see the other entrance that wrapped around the school. It was obviously a much longer course and the garden trail cut straight through it.

Tris smiled up at her, "How long have you been going to this school?"

She thought for a moment, her eyebrows scrunched up a little and her eyes looked up at her forehead. "Uhh, three and a half years? Yeah, when I was in 8th grade I did a little summer session here so I figured it out pretty quickly." She started walking down the stair and Tris stumbled behind her, trying to find her balance.

"So, um where are we going?"

"Depends, what do you like to wear?"

"Flannels, large sweaters? Jeans? Converse?" Tris listed off bored by the change of conversation. Clothes weren't very interesting. "That sort of thing. I'm more of a comfort girl."

She shook her head at Tris. "We could include a lot of those, but what's your style?"

"What do you mean?"

She came to a stop. "Okay for me, my style is 'sporty but girly, I have a boyfriend, and I could still kick your ass in these shoes'." She gestured to her peach blouse, high waisted black shorts, and three-inch ankle boots.

Tris nodded, obliviously. "Well, I don't know what my style is."

Shauna pursed her lips. "Well I think it says 'I don't want to try, I like sports, I have a boyfriend, don't look don't touch'." She raised an eyebrow, "How'd I do?" She asked clasping her hands together and rocking on her heels.

It was almost comical how everyone kept thinking the same things. "No boyfriend."

"Aw." She murmured. "I don't see why, I think you're very pretty," She pulled at a strand of her black hair. "Even if this isn't your real color." She let the strand sift between her fingers before crossing her arms over her chest in an "explain" gesture.

Tris sighed, pulling her hair onto her left shoulder. "Well, I guess I just wanted a change. How'd you know?"

Shauna smiled brightly at her, "Your eyelashes are a light brown which either means you're blonde or a light brunette." She said, hooking her arm with Tris's again. "I think you would be prettier as a blonde. But c'mon, Christina is almost done with her shift."

"Who's Christina?" Tris asked as she dragged her towards a large building with a black and pink color scheme. We were too far away to see the sign but the large posters gave away what we would be shopping for.

Shauna got a faraway look on her face. "She's magical," She said wistfully, nodding her head. The words "Victoria's Secret" in bold black lettering appeared as we got closer to the store. Tris groaned.

"Really?" She sighed, exasperated.

Shauna turned to face her, hands on hips and blue eyes calculating. "Yes really." She mimicked. "If you are going to just wear sports bras then you should get good quality ones that make your boobs look amazing when you take your shirt off. And you look like a sensible person so you're definitely hiding something underneath that jacket." She winked towards her chest and Tris swatted her away. Shauna just cackled and led her into the air-conditioned store. It was very hot outside and the cool air felt nice on her sticky skin.

"Plus," Shauna dragged her towards the nearest underwear display. "You could get fitted and get at least a couple of new, actual bras. And let's not forget some cute underwear." She flung a lacy purple pair towards her face and Tris smacked out of the air. She snorted, not in a cute, adorable way. More in like a laughing, 'I don't know I do this' type of snort. It was weird to see her have a flaw. "I know that look," She said, staring at Tris's expression. "I know, I snort when I laugh, it's bad."

"No, no. I like it. It makes you more human."

"What? Did you think I was a robot or something?" She grabbed a shopping bag and started to pile underwear in. "Extra small?"

Tris picked up a pair of red boy-shorts and shoved them into the bag. "Well no, it's just cool to figure out what's wrong with people." She started to stare at the display of lacy bras, getting lost in the girly atmosphere. "Extra small," She confirmed.

She grabbed one of the bras and held it up to Tris's chest. "Hmmm. What size are you?"

"Not sure, never been measured."

"I'll be right back." Shauna dropped it in the bag and sauntered over another room, leaving her alone with the bag. Tris looked around, lost. The last time she was in a mall was when her aunt came to visit when I was 12, she bought her a skateboard and dragged her around the mall until she was done shopping. It wasn't too bad, but Tris did get in trouble for punching a boy who knocked her over. But this was different, this was way different. There were hordes of girls and the occasional bored or excited boyfriend. The entire store seemed to go on and on, like an endless maze of white girls and yoga pants.

"You okay?" Tris turned around, wide-eyed. "I'm not going to make any sudden movements." The girl looked around her age, short black hair and olive skin. There was a measuring tape around her neck, signaling that she was an employee. The corners of her mouth were turned up in an amused smile.

"Sorry, my friend sort of ditched me. I'm a little out of place."

The girl scoffed. "Really? Well, I'm sure your friend will be back soon. I'm Christina."

My eyes lit up. "Christina!" Tris exclaimed, pointing at her. "You know Shauna?"

"Yeah? She's a real close friend of mine."

"She said that I needed help shopping? She also said you were magical."

Christina popped her hip out and placed her hand on it. "Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint. What can I do for you?" Her smile was bright and confident and Tris could tell that she was the hyper one.

Tris searched for the right words but then opted to gesture to her chest area. "Um, Shauna said I needed to get fit?"

Christina pursed her lips and stared, twisting a strand of her dark her around her finger. "Well, how bout we go over to the fitting area, I'm sure that Shauna is there already." She sauntered over to the back of the store and motioned for Tris to follow her. Christina walked through a doorway, directing her over to the large chair in the center of dressing rooms, where Shauna was sitting.

She jumped up and ran over to Christina, pulling her into a hug. "Yay! Lynn said you already got off your shift."

"Well I was about to leave, but then I saw a lost looking little puppy girl-"

"Hey!" Tris interrupted.

"So obviously, I need to help her." Christina continued, sending a fake glare in Tris's direction. "She hiding something under that jacket?"

Shauna nodded. "Definitely, the sensible ones are the saucy ones."

Tris groaned into her hands. "Oh my god."

Christina laughed. "Off with the jacket," She pushed Tris into one of the stalls. "I'm going to be seeing you in multiple bras and basically, be staring your boobs in the face so get comfortable."

Tris heard Shauna's laugh in the distance and snickered at her snort, pulling off her thick gray jacket. "Okay, I'm ready," She called out.

The door opened and Christina came into the small room with her. "Arms out, like a T." Christina started to wrap the tape around my ribs, above Tris's breasts then right over.

"Shauna, you were right!" Christina glanced up at Tris, smiling. Tris could hear a faint 'yes' from the other side of the door. "I'm going to get you some bras," She closed the door behind her. The room was very bright, the walls painted a light pink and white, it had a very dollhouse vibe.

Christina was very nice and made Tris feel comfortable, which was something Tris wasn't really used to. And the whole "bra" thing was pretty quick and painless, Christina did most of the shopping, shoving random lacy articles into her shopping bag and smiling brightly. And Shauna was pretty nice too, but a lot more sass than Christina.

Two hours later, Christina checked Tris out and gave her an employee discount, raising her eyebrows suggestively at the amount of stuff they got. "I got you a two for one deal, a free tote bag, and a 50 dollar gift card for buying more than 150 dollars of merchandise."

"Whoa, these things cost 150 dollars?"

"You bought four regular bras, ten pairs of underwear, six sports bras, four shirts, and three pairs of pants. You're lucky it's only four hundred."

Tris sighed, pulling out her newly bought wallet that Shauna forced her to buy. "Peer pressure." She mumbled and stuck her tongue out. Tris was starting to feel a lot more comfortable around them. Shauna was more confident and bossy then anything else and Christina was more girly and hyper and insane. It was odd how they balanced each other out, but it worked. "So where to next?" Tris asked, turning to Shauna who was immersed by the map in her hands.

"Okay we have to go to Lulu Lemon, Hollister," Christina nodded in agreement. "American Eagle, Bath & Body Works, Aeropostale, Forever 21… How into band shirts are you?"

"Like Fall Out Boy? Or Green Day? Or Panic! At The Disco?"

They both stared at her blankly before turning back to the map."Okay so then we're _definitely_ going Hot Topic, PacSun, H &M, Sephora, LUSH-"

"Lush? That sounds like a laundry detergent."

Christina looked aghast. "You've never been to LUSH? It's only the greatest place in the world."

Tris shrugged. "I barely know any of these places. H&M sounds like a candy store, American Eagle sounds like a place where you would buy a grill-"

Christina gasped. "Oh baby, we've got a lot of work to do."

Shauna nodded in agreement. "And we have to be done by six if we want to get coffee."

"Why at six? And it's already noon, it's gonna take six hours?" Tris asked, signing the receipt Christina handed her.

Shauna looked towards Christina with a shit eating grin. "Oh you know, that's the time that Chris here likes to stalk Mr. Hampton while he's on his shift. And _babe_ , you have zero clothes so it's our job to make sure you look hot as hell."

Christina smacked her in the stomach and started to bag everything up. "I wouldn't call it stalking. It's more of a routine."

"Hmmm." Shauna hummed. "Then you talk about how great his ass is."

"I know a lot more about you and Zeke than you do about Will and me." She walked around the counter, handing Tris her stuff.

"This sounds pretty good." Tris smirked as Shauna glared at Christina.

"Don't even get me started on what happened on the Ferris wheel," Christina said accusingly.

"Oh my god? Did they break it?" Tris asked.

"No, but they did get banned. I mean, they were basically fuc-"

"We can talk about this later." Shauna cut in, glaring at Christina in a 'we will never talk about this again or I dump you as my friend' way.

She just laughed. "Where are we going to next, Captain Shauna?"

* * *

Christina had crazy stamina. Both Shauna and Tris gave up at four hours, but Christina kept going. It was like she got high off the feeling of spending all her money. Shauna just shrugged when she brought it up.

"We only do this a couple times a year. You're just gonna have to deal."

"Shopping is not my thing."

She glanced at the extreme amount of bags hanging from my arms. "Could've fooled me." She snickered and pulled Tris ahead in an attempt to catch up with Christina.

"Is this our last store?" Tris asked, picking up what looked like a slab of rock.

"Yup. You probably shouldn't touch that."

"Why?"

She gently pried it out of herhands "That's soap."

"Oh. I thought it was a rock."

"Why would they sell rocks?"

"I don't know, this is a weird store." She led Tris towards what looked like a row of barrels filled with powdery spheres. "Is this crack?"

She snorted, picking up a purple one. "No, these are bath bombs. Grab a couple."

Tris reached her hand out hesitantly towards a baby blue one. "They smell nice." She noted.

Shauna nodded in agreement. "So what do you need? Shampoo? Lotion? Toothpaste? Face masks?"

"Uhh, all of those? I guess?" Tris shrugged.

"You really don't know how to shop."

"What gave it away?"

"Okay, go find Christina, she's probably around here. I'll get you stuff."

Tris nodded, relieved. "Thanks." She walked through the aisles of the store, finding Christina at the shampoo section.

"Hey!" She said.

"Hi, whatcha getting?"

She scrambled through her bags. "I already paid, but I got soap, shaving cream, lotion, teeth stuff, and conditioner bars. What about you?"

"Uhh, Shauna's getting that stuff for me."

She nodded, picking through the random soaps. "What's your favorite color?"

"What?"

"What's your favorite color?"

"I got that part, but why do you need to know?"

Christina smirked. "Is it a big secret that no one knows about?"

"No?"

"Then tell me."

Tris sighed. "Cabernet."

She groaned. "Oh my god literally perfect."

"What is?"

"You and my friend, don't worry about it."

Tris glanced back, looking for Shauna. "Okay?"

"You should dye your hair back."

"Damn it." Tris murmured.

She turned towards Tris, placing both hands on her hips. "Why'd you dye it?"

"I don't know, I wanted change?"

"You're dying it back."

Tris felt like Christina was more of a 'don't argue it's going to happen' type of person so she just nodded.

"Here is your stuff." Shauna swooped in, putting a bag of various items into Tris's already full arms. "I already paid for it." She tapped Tris's nose with a small 'boop'.

She then turned to Christina. "Are we done shopping? Please?"

Christina cracked a smile. "Yeah, we're done. Let's get coffee."

"Oh thank god." Shauna basically barreled out of the store, with us in tow.

The Starbucks was much larger than Tris expected, it was about 2/3 the size of the Victoria's Secret and covered in white and army green.

"Damn." She muttered.

"They've renovated four times. Students come here a lot so they needed more space." Shauna muttered back.

The sound of an engine revving made Tris glance back from the store. A black Kawasaki Ninja, 2013 stood in the middle of the parking lot.

"Nice bike," She said to the boy on the pristine motorcycle. His head was covered by a black helmet so he gave her a small head nod and a wave.

Shauna gave her a shit eating grin so Tris nudged her shoulder and pushed past her.

"Biker boy, huh?"

"Not interested."

"Hmmm." She murmured, locking her elbow with Tris's. "Okay then."

"Hey whatcha guys want?" Christina asked, pulling out her wallet as they walked into the large building. There were plenty of unoccupied seats and a small line to the barista.

"Venti lemon ale with one pump raspberry syrup, one pump of vanilla syrup, a half pump of peppermint syrup and thai walls," Tris said automatically, digging through the bags for her credit card.

Christina gave her a weird look. "What?"

"I can order for myself if you want."

She nodded in response, turning towards the barista. "Hey Will," She said in a voice much different than the one she used to speak to Tris. She sent a sideways glance to Shauna who seemed to understand, responding with a wink and a head nudge towards this "Will".

"Hey, your usual?"

Christina blushed slightly. "Yeah, that would be great." She fumbled through her purse and pulled out a crisp 10 dollar bill.

"My shift's almost over," Will started, glancing over at the clock. "We could hang out or something."

Christina smiled. "I'm kind of busy right now-"

"Oh okay, that's fine, it was only if you wanted to-"

"When I'm not-"

"and you're obviously busy,"

"You didn't-

"whatever is convenient for yo-"

"Will," she said firmly, crossing her hands over her chest. He froze, mid blush and sheepishly shoved his hands into his jean pockets. "I'm a little bit busy right now because I'm shopping with my friends," she gestured to two who were standing there with amused grins. "This is Tris by the way," she placed a hand on her shoulder and Tris waved sarcastically. "She's new."

Will gave a small wave. "Hello."

"And I have a ton of bags right now, but after I drop these off at my dorm I would love to hang out with you."

Will broke out in a wide grin, his amber eyes glimmering. Oh boy, he _really_ liked her. "If you wanted, I could help you with your stuff?"

"That would be great."

"Okay. Cool, so in about ten minutes?"

"I'll be right over there." She gestured to a small table in the corner, gathering up her bags.

Tris watched her walk away, Will's lovey eyes following her. "Okay wow… that was bad."

"Really?" Will asked.

"It was like a 12-year-old boy learning about puberty type of bad."

He cursed under his breath. "Jesus."

"Don't worry, she likes you," Tris reassured, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

He blushed. "So, uh, what can I get you?"

"Venti lemon ale with one pump raspberry syrup, one pump of vanilla syrup, a half pump of peppermint syrup and thai walls."

"What?"

"Venti lemon ale, with one pump raspberry syrup, one pump of vanilla syrup, a half pump of peppermint syrup and thai walls," She repeated, slower.

"Wow, okay," He muttered under his breath. "Tris right?"

"Yup."

He smiled, reaching his hand out. "I'm Will."

Tris shook his hand, it was much bigger than her small one and basically engulfed half her wrist. Will was a summery type of handsome, tan skin, beach blonde hair, and amber eyes. He had a faint dust of freckles over his nose and was at least 6 feet tall. "If you hurt Christina I will break you," Tris muttered, deathly low under her breath.

It wasn't odd for her to be this over protective, but it was a little strange this early in the friendship. She sort of felt close to Christina, she was easy to talk to and there were no empty silences (mainly because Christina babbled straight through them) and maybe it was the fact that she made Tris feel sort of… happy?

Will nodded, slowly, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed.

Tris shook herself out of her thoughts and gathered her bags, sauntering over to Christina. And Will seemed like a nice guy, and he didn't underestimate Tris (which let's be real, probably saved his life). She plopped down on the chair across from Christina, smiling viscously. "I like him."

Christina sighed. "Me too."

"If he ever gives you problems, tell me. I'll beat him up for you."

She snorted, leaning her elbows on the table. "You're fiery, we're going to be good friends."

"Hey losers, got your drinks for you." Shauna intervened, plopping their drinks down in a rushed manner.

"Thanks, loser," Tris replied, the word easily slipped out of her mouth as Shauna sat down next to her. "How do you feel about Will?"

"Cute, not my type, though, shy. You?"

"Too tall, like every damn person in this state. Got this cute puppy dog thing going on, probably a freak in the bed. How do you feel about Christina and Will?" Tris directed her attention towards Christina, who was staring at them like they were insane. They both smirked and sipped on their drinks, raising their eyebrows and making "suggestive" looks.

"He would definitely be more confident, and she's a freak in bed so I think they will balance each other out quite well. What do you think Chrissy?"

Christina rolled her eyes, resting her chin on her hands. "I think you guys are the freaks."

Tris tsked at her. "That's not very nice."

She just sighed, dropping her head down onto the wooden table.

"Well, I think that they would be very cute together. And I know this because Will has not stopped glancing at you since you sat down, and Zeke has told me he's a truthful drunk so I've heard some pretty good conversations."

"And if he didn't like you, why would he ask you out?" Tris mentioned.

"I suppose you're right." Christina agreed, sipping her coffee. "You're still freaks, though, both of you."

Shauna flipped her hair over her shoulder. "You know it. Now, when should we schedule a hair appointment for Tris to fix her hair?"

"Hey!" Tris argued, indignantly. "There is nothing wrong with my hair."

"It's better blonde."

"Definitely blonde," Christina added in. "I know a girl who can do amazing shit to you, cheap too. Her name's Lynn, she's hella cool."

"I don't get a say in this?"

Shauna and Christina glanced towards each other. "Nope." They said in unison, then went back to sipping their drinks.

"You guys suck."

"I would say you love me, but we met like six hours ago. But you will love me." Christina said, confidently.

Shauna snorted, grabbing a napkin and wiping whipped cream off her nose. "And you've already seen my boobs, so you're bound to love me too."

"And I met you like five minutes ago, but you're gonna love me as well." Will interrupted, sliding into the seat next to Christina.

Christina was mid sip when he started talking, resulting in a major cough fit. She reached for napkins as Will patted her back soothingly. "Thanks," She coughed out, her voice was hoarse and she wiped her mouth of any spills of coffee. She timidly reached for her drink again, taking another sip.

"Are you okay? Do you need a cup of water or a cough drop? Do you nee-" Will asked, eyes wide with concern.

Tris snorted, starting to stand up and gather her bags. "She choked, she wasn't shot."

Shauna did the same. "He should get used to her choking on things," She muttered under her breath.

Tris snickered and gathered the remaining of her stuff. "Ready?" She asked Christina and Will.

She nodded, half her bags piled along Will's arms.

"Never offered to carry my bags," Shauna muttered under her breath as she walked out of the building.

Will snorted, "Shut up."

"Zeke knows how to shut her up," Tris muttered.

Will laughed and nudged at Shauna's shoulder.

"Tris! I thought you were on my side."

"Never said I wasn't. But you should probably get used to it if you're gonna be hanging around our dorm."

"Oh, I like you. So you're Zeke's new roommate?" Will asked, sneaking glances at Chris as they walked.

"Yup, I was in the room for a total of three seconds and Zeke and Shauna were in a very compromising position."

"Loser." Shauna retorted, punching Tris lightly in the arm.

"Wow that was almost too good, I don't know how I'm ever going to recover from that epic comeback."

She just scoffed.

Will chuckled under his breath and started swinging the bags as he walked. "So where you from, Tris?"

"Clarion."

"Where's that?" Christina chimed in.

"It's in Iowa."

"Farmer girl huh?"

"It's a small town, you've probably never heard of it. But it's pretty great because everyone knows everyone"

"Great, now I can go visit and find out all your dirty secrets," Shauna smiled mischievously and raised her eyebrows.

"Good luck with that nerd." Tris scoffed, glancing back at Christina and Will who seemed to forget about Shauna and Tris's presence. "Hey, wanna ditch them?"

She raised her eyebrows then grabbed Tris's wrist, pulling her into a random store.

"They won't even notice," She smirked and hid behind a clothing rack as the two other nerds walked past the store. "Dummies."

"You're hiding behind men's boxers, dummy." Tris retorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Jeez, can't have a moment can I?"

Tris grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the heavily perfumed store. She glanced up at the "Nordstrom" sign and made a mental note not to go there unless she wanted to lose her sense to smell. "Nope."

"You're cool, ya know?"

"Glad you noticed."

Shauna rolled her eyes but smiled. "So what's your problem with boys?"

"I don't have a problem with them, I'm just not into dating right now."

"Bad breakup? Bad boyfriend?"

"Never had a boyfriend so the whole breakup thing doesn't work out."

"I am utterly shocked to my core." Tris didn't think she looked utterly shocked. "You've never had a boyfriend? You're a junior!"

"Thank you, I was unaware," The sarcasm was real. "But no, I've never had a boyfriend."

"Have you sworn off boys or something?"

Tris shook her head. "No, no, nothing like that. I guess they aren't interested in me."

"Lies, all lies. I think you're fricken pretty and cool and I've known you for like six hours." She grabbed Tris's face in her hands, squishing her cheeks together. "You have really bold eyes, which is good 'cus it makes your jawline look hella sharp. And you have nice cheekbones," She lightly smacked Tris's cheek then dropped her hands. "Boys are most certainly interested in your face."

Tris didn't really know how to respond so she opted for a "Pshhhhhh." and a small blush.

"You've gotta be more confident," Shauna muttered, but seemed to drop it.

The courtyard was emptied out, only a few people loitering the campus. It was nearly seven and the sun was setting in the horizon, making the sky a pretty lilac color as stars started to shine through the clouds. Shauna turned to her, ending the surprisingly easy silence that had wafted over them. "Is it cool if I hang around your dorm? Uriah, Zeke's little brother, is my dorm mate so I will probably be spending a lot of nights at your place.

Tris nodded. "It's cool. I know Uriah, he's very loud."

"They both are."

"How are they in the same grade, though, are they twins?"

She shook her head. "No, not twins. Their dad died right before Zeke was about to enter Kindergarten, he got too far behind in school so they gave him the rest of the year off to mourn and reentered Kindergarten when Uriah entered."

"Oh wow," Tris said quietly.

"It happened a long time ago and Zeke's very open about it so don't freak out too much."

Tris chuckled nervously, not liking the tension that seemed to mist over us. "I had to take a year off too." She cleared her throat uncomfortably. Tris usually didn't disclose that information this early in a friendship, or any friendship for that matter.

"Really? Why?"

"Something happened at the beginning of school last year, so I had to take time off."

"Was it because of the move?"

Tris turned towards her as they ascended the stairs. "What?"

"The move over here?"

"Oh, um, no. My family is still in Clarion, it's just me here."

"That sucks."

Tris shrugged. "Eh, it's okay."

They arrived at the dorm and Shauna struggled through her bags for the key, fumbling to unlock the door with the amount of bags she had.

Tris just snickered, not even surprised that Shauna had a key. "Yo Zeke! Open the door!" She shouted. The faint sound of footsteps could be heard from the other side of the door as Zeke padded over followed by a small crash before the door opened in front of them.

"Wassup, Tris!" He smiled widely, grabbing some of her bags as she walks past him.

"Thanks." Tris picked up a stray plastic cup that must've been the culprit of the crash (she hoped).

"Not a problem," He turned towards Shauna, also taking a couple of her bags.

"Wassup babe?"

She groaned. "Move, the couch is literally five feet away and my shoes are killing me."

Zeke just laughed, dropping the bags at his feet and lifting Shauna into his arms. "Better?"

She sighed. "Much."

"Aren't you guys just the sweetest little things?" Tris cooed at them, mockingly.

Zeke replied by giving Shauna a big slobbery kiss on her cheek as she flipped Tris off. Tris just laughed and dropped the rest of my bags off in her room.

"You guys hungry?" She padded to the kitchen and opened up the stainless steel fridge only to find a small lemon, a single packet of ketchup and a half eaten apple.

"Zeke? Really?"

He shrugged. "I thought you guys were going to get food."

"It's all good," Shauna started, throwing her shoes to the other side of the room. "I'll just order some pizza, is half cheese half meat lovers good? The take out menus is in the drawer, Tris."

Tris grabbed the first one she saw and dialed the number, pressing the phone into her ear as she flipped through the menu.

"Hey, Uriah's pizza and abortion clinic, your loss is our sauce! What's up Shaunny?"

Tris snorted, from what she heard about Uriah, this was normal for him. "Shaunny's a bit preoccupied right now, it's Tris."

"Coolio. What's up Tris, what can I get ya?"

"Ummm," She glanced at the menu. "Just an order of breadsticks and a large meat lovers and cheese."

"Coolio, coolio. Anything else?"

"Nah."

"Coolio. I'll be there in 20 minutes Trissy, tell Shaunny that I will be bringing Marley and probably Daddy #2."

Tris made a face but decided that it was better to ask Shauna than Uriah.

"Okay...well, I'll see you later."

"Toodles, Trissy."

"Yeah, we're gonna talk about that lil nickname."

Uriah laughed and hung up, leaving Tris in silence.

"Yo, Shauna?"

"What's up bitch!" Shauna yelled, pulling on a new shirt and walking into her view.

"Uriah says he's bringing Marley and Daddy #2? Who's #1?"

She laughed and brushed her hair up into a messy bun. "Daddy #1 is Willy boy

and Daddy #2 is Four."

"He's Daddy #4?"

She laughed again. "It's better when you meet him."

Tris shrugged again. "Okay... Well, the pizza will be here in 20 minutes so I'm gonna get a quick workout done."

"Really? Let me pick out your clothes!"

Tris was about to object but Shauna had already bolted into her room. "Yeah, sure I guess."

* * *

The wrap was too tight around Tris's fingers. It rubbed her knuckles against each other in all the wrong ways while continuously cutting off the circulation to her fingertips. But Tris was too busy to fix it.

She flipped her body around and landed a high kick to the upper part of the punching bag then smacked the front with her knuckles against it, which bended my wrist awkwardly. Stepping back, she shook her hand out and got back into position. She tried to punch it again but ended up with the same awkward wrist bend.

"You should keep tension in your abdomen,"

Tris flipped her head around to find a tall boy leaning against the ropes of the boxing ring, staring intently at her. Tris put her arms on her hips and glared. She was not used to strange boys watching her, even though he was a little bit cute.

He just raised his eyebrows, almost amused at the thought that this little 5 foot 2 girl could possibly be scary. "Your arms are too low, that's why you ended up hitting it with your wrist." He jumped into the ring, standing next to her and getting into a fighting stance.

He seemed to know what he was doing so she mimicked it as he walked around to her left side. "Now just look here," He pointed at the middle of the bag. "And punch."

Tris brought her fist against it and the bag moved from the force. She glanced back to find that he was smiling. "Good, do it again."

She continued to punch the bag, moving it more and more after each punch. Tris lifted her leg up and kicked the side of the bag then bent low and punched the other side. When she thought it was good enough, she stepped back and the boy came back into her view. Huh. She almost forgot about him.

"Better, but your still not keeping some tension here." He stepped behind her and wrapped his hand around her waist. She stiffened immediately as the pads of his finger spread across the skin where her shirt had ridden up. Without thinking she grabbed his hand and flipped him around, wrenching his arm up the small of his back.

She blew out a shaky breath. "Touch me again and you lose an arm," Tris whispered, threateningly. He groaned in pain and she pushed him out of her grip as he shook his arm out.

"Bitch!"

She suddenly recognized that voice, it was the same voice that spewed profanities earlier this morning. She spotted a blue beanie in his back pocket.

"No," Tris muttered, ripping it out of his pocket. "You're that asshole that ran into me this morning!" She threw the beanie at his face, frustrated that he caught it with ease.

A look of recognition washed over him but as quick as it came it was replaced by anger. "No fucking way, you ran into me!" He shoved the beanie into his pocket and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at her with intent.

"I'm surprised you could see anything besides your stupid phone!" Tris retorted and glanced around at her exits.

He stepped towards her and she stepped back, a flash of fear resonating in her eyes before it was replaced with determination. "Well, I'll have you know that I was designing an app for the visually impaired like you!"

She snorted, quickly unwrapping and throwing her tapes into the trashcan then hopping out of the ring. "Well, you should be spending your time designing an app that helps retards like you find a way to get their heads out of their asses."

His stumbled over a comeback and Tris laughed. He was an asshole, a hot asshole but still an asshole. She grabbed her bag and glanced back to see his shocked face. "Bye bye bitch." Then the elevator doors shut. Tris leaned back against the walls, feeling the adrenaline of standing up to him flow through her veins.

She ended up running through the frigid rain to get to her dorm building which made the replaced the adrenaline with ice cold blood. The lobby was surprisingly quiet, except for the creepy (most likely drug dealers) dudes that were sulking around. Luckily, the inside was heated and toasty so most of the rain dried off by the time she got to her dorm. In there, Tris found an unsightly seen of Shauna on top of Zeke, tongues flying everywhere.

"Jesus Christ! Seriously? On the fricking counter?" She shouted, covering her eyes with her hands. They both laughed. "Oh wow guys, really funny. Innocent eyes over here!"

Shauna snorted. "You can look now. For the record, you said you would be gone 20 minutes."

Tris emptied out the contents of her sports bag onto the kitchen island. "Well, I ran into some asshole so I had to cut it short."

Shauna murmured and hopped up next to the pile, flinging a towel into the laundry basket. "Go early, assholes don't have enough energy to carry their egos down the stairs."

"True." Tris peeled off her half sweaty/rainy shirt and threw it in the general area of the laundry. "Imma take a shower, call me when the pizza is ready."

"Sure thang," She replied, snapping her bra strap as Tris walked passed her.

* * *

When Tris got out, she could tell that there was definitely more people in the dorm. She wrapped the towel around her warm figure and quickly changed into something more comfortable.

The smell of pizza wafted through the air and there was a soft patter of feet against the hardwood floors. Tris walked out into the living room to find everyone gathered around the area socializing and dancing to the pop music playing in the background. Tris moved her way through the bodies, acknowledging Marlene and Uriah when they saw her. But obviously, Tris's first priority was pizza (duh). She managed to grab a slice while trying to maintain a conversation with Zeke, who must've had at least four red bulls while she was in the shower.

"Hey, so um I think that you've met everyone here, well except Daddy #2, but I don't know where he is at the momento but anyway some stuffs you should know bout this annual Friday night slash weekend thing that we do, so basically we all just come over to one of the dorms, eat food and pig out and play games sometimes with alcohol, and I mean we have energy drinks if you wanna be sober or you're just not into that, like I mean Daddy #2 doesn't drink and he still gets really hyped after 7 Monsters which is understandable because I had like 3 of those things while you were in the shower and mannnnn I can see so clearly-"

"Dude, Monster is so bad for you." Tris managed to get in while he started to look into the distance as if he was reassessing his life choices. Which honestly anyone would after that much caffeine and artificial dye in their system. She decided to let it slide that he was speaking in sentence fragments and using horrible grammar or the fact that "annual" meant yearly not weekly. But she got the gist.

He just made a face like "Nah I'm sure it's fine, internal bleeding is where the blood is supposed to be". Tris just snorted, glancing around at her surroundings.

"Hmmmm. So when do we play the games?" She questioned, taking a bite of the pizza and nearly moaning in delight.

"Well if you're referring to like board games I have like a hella ton of those and I'm pretty frickin king at monopoly and sudoku, mannnnn sudoku, that fucks me up sometimes because everything is just supposed to fit together perfect and it's so great, but anyway, I'm great at Uno because I just keep all the cool cards till the end and I just bust them out like "what's up bitches!" and Marlene absolutely hates it-"

"Dude, really, I can't fricking talk to you like this," Tris cut him off and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler that was by the table. She threw it at his face which probably wasn't the best idea because it hit him in the chest and fell to the floor as he just stared at it. Man he was out of it. She picked it up and opened it for him, shoving it at his chest. "Chug it."

He stared for a minute but grabbed it from her and threw his head back. For some reason, he lost the function of having a working mouth and the water continued to dribble onto his shirt. He downed the rest and threw the bottle behind him, not glancing back to see if it hit anyone or anything.

Tris just rolled her eyes. "You good now bro?" She asked, putting her hand on his shoulder but pulling back when it came in contact with the dampness.

He coughed once and wiped his mouth. "Yeah, I feel so much better, damn. So what was the question?"

"When do we play the games?"

He looked around wistfully then glanced at his watch. "Well, usually it's when everyone has eaten something and everything just calms down which is usually around 10ish soo in maybe 15ish minutes?"

Tris just hummed.

"So what sports are you doing?" He reached over me and grabbed another pizza slice then began to much into it happily.

"Sports?"

Zeke snorted. "Yeah sports, you know the things that you do for extracurricular activities. Most of them include soccer, football, basketball, swimming-"

"I know what sports are, idiot."

He gasped, bringing his pizza slice to his heart. "That hurts Tris. That hurts right here."

She just scoffed and mutter "baby" under her breath. "But I'm thinking about cross country or maybe soccer, but I don't know a lot about it. Either way, I could just ditch both and do weights instead."

"You-you got some muscles there Trissy?" He started to grab at her bicep and she shoved him away. "Hmmm? A little 50 pounds? A little lifting? Bench pressing? Hmmmmmmm?" He started to flick her arms. "That's nice Tris. Better than Uriah."

Tris rolled her eyes and punched him in his bicep and he let out an exaggerated little squeal of pain.

"Jesus Tris." He brought his other hand up to cradle his arm and gave her what was probably his best sad puppy dog face. Which, personally, Tris thought wasn't even that good.

"For the record, yours are better than Uriahs too." He scoffed in disbelief. "Well this was fun, but I'm going to get something to drink." She quickly walked away from the conversation and into the kitchen.

Tris opened up the fridge again, happy to see that someone brought something other than Monster, water or alcohol and grabbed a fruit punch. She hopped onto the counter and flipped around to stare at the people in her living room. She spotted Uriah and Marlene by the stereo, fighting over who gets to choose the next song. Marlene ended up winning by kissing him and changing the song while he was distracted. Christina was smushed in-between Will and Zeke on the couch. And by the massive blushes they were sporting, Tris would guess that Zeke was giving Chris and Will hell for being in such close proximity.

They were extremely loud for just five people, but Tris smiled. She might actually not hate this place or the people in it. Any doubts that she had before had faded into the back of her mind and she was actually enjoying herself.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Shauna by the doorway. She was talking to someone and Tris only heard parts of their conversation, not wanting to eavesdrop. But then she did hear someone else.

"I didn't do anything and all of a sudden she flips out at me." And Tris knew that voice way too well as her fists clenched. How dare he. She quickly hopped off the counter and marched right over to Shauna. Surprise surprise, it's the douchebag dude that's been the only damper on her day.

"Are you fucking stalking me!" Tris shouted at him, her fists are clenched so tight that she can feel her nails press crescents into her palms. But she didn't care, because this asshole walked into her dorm and immediately started bad mouthing her to Shauna.

He stared at Tris for a moment, shocked at the sight of seeing her three times in one day. Because of course she would crash their friend's tradition. "You invited her?" He asked Shauna, who just stared at them.

"Um, excuse me. I fucking live here." Tris snapped then turned to Shauna with the same expression. "You invited him?"

Shauna chuckled nervously and scratched the back of her neck. "I see you've met Four…. aka Daddy #2."

It sounded a lot more like a question than a statement. Tris turned to "Four" (which is a really weird name) and crossed her arms over her tank top clad chest then gave him once over (just eyeing her competition, not checking him out at all).

He was wearing beat up black converse and black jeans and a dark gray t-shirt under a blue hoodie. And he was wearing that damn beanie that she just wanted to rip off because really, it's not cold nor is he outside and it's just all-around necessary. His arms were tightly crossed over his chest in a demeanor similar to hers as her eyes glared into his deep blue ones. There was a black mark that peeked out under his hoodie and Tris would be lying if she wasn't a little bit intrigued. But she held her ground.

"Yeah I have." The air around them thickened and Tris realized that the rest of their friends had stopped their conversations to stare at them.

He laughed haughtily. "I didn't do anything to you."

"You put your hands all over me."

"I was helping you."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"Well, you certainly needed it."

She shoved him. _Hard_. His arms fell to his sides to steady himself against the wall. He glared at her some more before turning to Shauna and giving her a face that says "who the fuck it this?".

Shauna chuckled nervously and fiddled with her hands. "So I see you've met Tris?" She offered and the "Four" dude rolled his eyes.

Tris rolled her eyes and stormed out of the dorm, slamming her shoulder into his as she shoved past him.

She wasn't really sure what to do now that she was away from them. Tris leaned her body against the closed door and pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes. She obviously didn't think this through, locked out of her dorm and stuck in the empty hallway. She could hear everyone talking about her so she pushed off the wall and started to pace the hall.

Tris could admit that she had a little bit of fault for flipping out at him, but in her defense, he did put his hands on her within the first ten minutes of meeting her. And he could be a psychopath for all she knew, the chances were slim but still.

To her right, she heard a squeak and she flipped on her heels to face it, only to be met with the hard edge of a door right to her forehead. She stumbled backward as a hand wrapped around her arm, pulling her into someones chest as another arm wrapped around her midsection.

"Oh my god, are you okay?"

She blinked hard at the guy that smacked her with a door and groaned when she touched the small bump. "I think so." He helped steady her as she gripped onto his black t-shirt. "Aren't door supposed to open the other way?"

"What?"

"Doors. The doors open inward not outward so that this doesn't happen."

The guy bit his lip and turned to stare at the door. "Huh. We will get that fixed. I'm really sorry, though." He lightly tilted her head back to inspect the damage. "Oh, that's gonna bruise. Hold on, I'll get you some peas."

Tris gripped the door as he disappeared inside the dorm, reappearing with a bag of frozen peas and gently pressed them to her forehead. "I usually don't smack pretty girls in the face with my door."

Despite herself, Tris smiled softly. "I usually don't let doors attack me. So I guess we're both off our game."

He let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm Al." His light brown hair fell in front of his face as he held out a hand.

Tris shook his hand lightly as a mist of silence fell over them. Luckily someone else stepped into the hallway, snapping both of them out of their trance. They turned towards the person in a sense of surprise.

"There you are Tris," Shauna said, marching over to them. "What'd you do to her?"

"Oh-um smacked her in the face with my door?" Al replied nervously.

Shauna grabbed Tris's chin and looked at the bump. "Damn girl. Let's get you some more ice." She started to pull Tris away from Al who just waved as he watched them disappear back into the dorm. He seemed nice, only even knowing him for 2 minutes.

Shauna dragged Tris into the nearest bathroom, which luckily didn't cross paths with Four. "We locked him in my room," Shauna answered even though Tris didn't ask. "We figured that he should calm down a little bit."

"Can't I just go to sleep?" Tris asked, pressing against the small bump forming on her forehead. It was different now that she could look in the mirror, there was a small cut and bump but not too much beside that.

"Ha. You both are gonna play nice because you both are our friends. So suck it up and just be civil."

Ugh. "Fine," Tris said, dropping the conversation.

Shauna gave her an ice pack then led Tris back into the living room. She sat down in one the cushioned arm chairs, swinging her legs over the side and letting her head rest against the arm.

The dude came out a moment later, pushing himself away from Christina, Will, Uriah, Marlene, and Zeke, who were trailing behind him with reassuring smiles.

Tris watched as he glanced down at her but then moved to the chair on the opposite side of the table. Everyone else bundled up on the couch, Uriah and Will being forced to sit down in front of it. Neither of them looked too upset about it, Marlene's legs were propped up against Uriah's shoulders, giving him an all access pass to trail his hands down her legs and tickle her feet. Will was more than happy to be even near Christina, who, on the other hand, was blushing profusely and muttering apologies under her breath.

"Never have I ever?" Uriah asked the unusually silent group. He didn't wait for an answer, standing up and grabbing vodka and a couple shot glasses. He hesitated and grabbed a couple bottles of Monster and Red Bull before setting the drinks in the middle of the table.

Tris stared at the wicked smile that had spread across his face, nervous at what it might mean. She glanced down at her hands which were fiddling with the drawstrings of her sweat pants then glanced up at Four from across the table, surprised to find him staring at her. Well, not really staring, it felt more like analyzing.

The scary thing is, he didn't look away. He held her gaze steadily from his lounged position on the chair, arms crossed with a brooding expression. Tris didn't back down and held his gaze just as strong, raising an eyebrow in a "you want to fuck with me" display. His jaw clenched and he dropped her gaze, turning back to Uriah. Tris turned back to Uriah as well, find him slack jawed, eyes darting back and forth between Four and her. The rest of the group had similar expressions and it got more uncomfortable by the second.

"I've never done it in a Ferris wheel!" Marlene blurted out, cracking under the silence.

"Oh come on!" Shauna shouted, pouring herself and Zeke some vodka. The took the shots and relaxed into their seat. "So who's next?"

Shauna smiled as the uneasiness faded away. "Never have I ever…" She glanced around the room. "Streaked across campus."

Both Uriah and Zeke groaned, clinking their drinks together.

The game went on and Tris tried to keep everything as vague as possible "Never have I ever been out of the US" "Never have I ever eaten bugs" "Never have I ever had a boyfriend". It was getting harder as she realized some people started to target her.

She glared at him from across the table as his turn came around. "Never have I ever been to Iowa." Her glare hardened as she took a shot of red bull. He was targeting her for sure. Four raised his eyebrow in a "your move" display, tapping his fingers against his empty shot glass.

Christina glanced around the room, trying to think of a good one. "Never have I ever… Had sex."

The room collectively groaned as they all filled their glasses. Tris was a little bit happy that Four was filling his cup too, even though she also had to drink she couldn't help feeling glad that he was taken down too.

"But wait, you've never had a boyfriend," Marlene stated, confused.

Tris laughed a little, somehow feeling both drowsy and hyper from the energy drinks. "You don't have to have a boyfriend to have sex."

Four coughed. "Slut."

Tris turned to him, eyes hardening on his "I don't care" expression. All eyes turned as hers settled on his, glaring a hole into the back of his brain. "Never have I ever been kissed," She stated calmly, keeping her expression hardened as he filled his glass with Monster along with everyone else.

"But wait," Marlene stated. She seemed to get more and more confused, trying to rack her slurred brain. "You've had sex."

Tris shrugged, pulling herself away from Four. "Well, the guy I was with didn't really care about that part of my body."

Everything was silent until Christina shot out of her seat, she had taken many shots of vodka and Tris was really surprised that she was this coherent. "Innuendos. Niceeeeee." She plopped back down, missing the couch completely and ended up being pulled onto Will's lap. She mumbled into his shirt and played with his hair as he picked her up and sat on the couch, her still in his lap.

"Guys, I think that it's enough for us. It's already midnight, why don't we just watch a movie or something?" Will asked, twirling a strand of dark hair around his finger.

Most of the group agreed (the ones that could form coherent sentences). Marlene popped up and grabbed a CD from the cabinet and displaying it for everyone to see. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (her personal favorite), they nodded and she grabbed the remote and played the movie.

Christina was the first to fall asleep, followed closely by Zeke who had migrated onto the couch, Shauna curled up next to him. Slowly, each of them fell asleep and by the time Hermione punched Draco, Tris found herself awake despite the sleepiness clouding the back of her mind. That's the funny thing about energy drinks. She glanced over at the only other person who had been chugging red bull. He was still awake but staring at the TV with a sleepy face. Tris had to admit that he looked much better with his mouth closed.

She eventually dozed off as the ending credits rolled through. The last thing she remembered was the TV turning off and being submerged in the darkness

**Author's Note:**

> comment to get a hug


End file.
